Refrigerator door construction



Jan. 25, 1955 L. A. RASMUSSEN REFRIGERATOR DOOR CONSTRUCTION Filed Oct. 6, 1950 INENTOR.

LUTHERAR SMUSsEN Afrg.

nited States Patent O REFRIGERATOR DOOR CONSTRUCTION Luther A. Rasmussen, Greenville, Mich., assignor to Gibson Refrigerator Company, Greenville, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application ()ctober 6, 1950, Serial No. 188,841

4 Claims. (Cl. 20-35) This invention relates to refrigerator cabinets, and more particularly to doors for refrigerators of the household type.

The invention is directed primarily to a novel mounting of an inner door panel and trim strip or sealing gasket on the outer door pan of a refrigerator door. It lncludes a new clip for attaching the inner door panel and trim strip to the outer door pan.

The invention is particularly adaptable, although not restricted to, refrigerator doors which are flexible relative to a plane perpendicular to the front face of the cabinet. A door of this character is disclosed in the patent granted to Earl D. Drake No. 2,432,563. In such doors it is essential that the inner door panel be free to move a limited distance in its plane relative to the outer door pan. Thus it will not restrain the flexing of the outer door pan and thereby hinder the latter from closing properly against the front of the cabinet proper.

An object of my invention is toprovide an inner door panel-door gasket subassembly which may be expeditiously assembled with either a rigid or flexible outer door panel by means of a series of sprlng steel clips and with the minimum of labor.

Another object of my invention is to provide 1n a refrigerator door a structure which allows securement of the inner door panel and door gasket to the outer door panel without the necessity of piercing any of the aforementioned parts.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a structure which will hold the soft rubber door gasket in line with the contours of the periphery of the outer door pan and will prevent the door gasket from following a sinuous path, without piercing the gasket, inner door panel, or outer door pan, and which produces an .eflicient snap-in securement with great assembly advantages.

Another object of my invention is to provide a refrigerator door structure which includes the use of spring steel clips which may be affixed to the inner door panel and gasket around the periphery thereof at points which need not be accurately spaced from one another.

Still another object of my invention is to provide in a refrigerator door a structure which permits relatively wide variations in the dimensions of the flanges of the outer door panel and inner door panel and which will allow for subsequent expansion and contraction of the inner door panel.

These objects, as well as others ancillary thereto, will more fully appear in the following specification when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator cabinet with the door open, parts of the latter being broken away to more fully disclose the construction thereof;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken on substantially the line 2-2 of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a clip used to secure the inner door panel and trim strip or sealing gasket to the outer door pan.

The present invention is imbodied in a refrigerator cabinet 11 which comprises a liner 12 and a shell 13 spaced from each other. A throat molding 14 spans the distance between the liner and the shell around the access opening of the cabinet. The throat molding 14 conceals the insulation (not shown) which lies between the spaced apart walls, herein called the liner and shell. The access pening is closed by refrigerator door 15. A seal is provided between the periphery of the door 15 and cab- 2,700,194 Patented Jan. 25, 1955 inet 11 by securing to door 15 a soft rubber gasket 16 which Will press against the face of cabinet 11 and preferably against the inturned flange 17 of shell 13 and prevent circulation of air between the interior of the cabinet and the exterior of the cabinet.

Refrigerator doors are of several types but can, in general, be divided into two classes: rigid doors and flexible doors. In one common type of rigid door, the outer door pan and inner door panel are fixedly secured together by means of screws or similar securing means so that the outer door pan and the inner door panel combine to give a rigid box-like structure. In another type of rigid refrigerator door, diagonal braces extending from one corner to the other are utilized to obtain the rigidity. A flexible or non-rigid door has the advantage, as more clearly set forth in the aforementioned patent of Earl D. Drake, of adapting itself so that the plane of the periphery of the inner surface of the door will be parallel at all times to the plane of inturned flange 17 of the refrigerator cabinet shell 13. I use a door of this type in my preferred embodiment, wherein outer door pan 18 has a rear flange 19 which lies substantially in a plane parallel to the forward face of the door and has in addition thereto a return flange 20 which gives structural strength to the door. Return flange 20 need not be integrally formed with outer door pan 18. Corner gussets such as 21 are attached to the outer door pan by spot welding or other suitable means. Diagonal braces such as 22 extend from the corner gussets of the outer door pan and meet at an adjustable evener bracket 23. The latter may be used to adjust the tension on the di agonal braces. Horizontal corner brace 24 is attached to the outer door pan and serves two purposes. It adds to the structural strength of the door. In addition, horizontal cross brace 24 retains diagonal braces 22 in a position suificiently forward of the plane of the periphery of inner door panel 25 to permit the use of a recess 26 in the door panel 25 which is of a type well known to those familiar with refrigerator cabinet art. Insulation 27 may be blown in or otherwise placed in the cavity of the outer door pan prior to engagement of the inner door panel and door gasket subassembly with the outer door pan. I have invented a novel subassembly which may be readily engaged with the outer door pan of the flexible type or of any type which does not depend on the inner door panel for rigidity. This subassembly consists of an inner door panel 25, door gasket 16, and a series of clips 28. I

Spaced from the peripheral edge 29 of inner door panel 25 is a bead 30 which extends around the periphery of the inner door panel. In a series of positions around the periphery of inner door panel 25, clips 28 are'engaged with the inner door panel. The number of clips 28 which are used will vary with the size of the door. They need not be accurately spaced from each other or with respect to any particular point on the periphery of the inner door panel. It is only necessary to avoid the portions of the inner door panel which will lie opposite the door lock, hinges, and corner gussets of the outer door panel. Upturned edge 31 of clip 28 permits easy initial engagement of clip 28, peripheral edge 29, and inner door panel 25. Clip 28 may then be pushed into complete engagement with inner door panel 25. The resiliency of the clip permits upturned edge 31 to ride over the convex surface of bead 30 so that the concave surface 32 of clip 28 snugly conforms to the convex surface of the bead. At the same time, the convex surface 33 of clip 28 snugly conforms to the concave surface 34 of inner door panel 25.

After clips 28 have been engaged with inner door panel 25, door gasket 16 may be assembled with the inner door panel. The peripheral edge 29 of inner door panel 25 is inserted between the inner and outer lips 35 and 36 of door gasket 16. The door gasket is prevented from following a sinuous path with respect to the periphery of outer door panel 18 by the engagement of bead 37 with the concave surface 34 of the peripheral bead 30 of inner door panel 25 and at points where a portion of the clip lies between the inner door panel and the door gasket by concave surface 38 of the clip.

Clip 28 in the embodiment shown has an outwardly extending leg 39 which has an angularly disposed heel 40 with a foot 41 angularly disposed with respect to both leg 39 and heel 40. When the subassembly, consisting of inner door panel 25, door gasket 16, and clips 23, is laid upon outer door pan 18, foot 41 will rest upon the rear surface of rear flange 19. When a small force is applied substantially perpendicularly to the face of the inner door panel, leg 39 of spring steel clips 28 will flex, permitting foot 41 to ride past return flange until the corrugations of heel 4t) engage the edge 42 of return flange 20, thus holding the subassembly snugly against rear flange 19 of inner door panel 13, with the outer lip 36 of door gasket 16 separating inner door panel from outer door pan 18.

The assembly of the inner door panel' subassembly to the outer door pan may be accomplished by merely patting with the palm of the hand the periphery of the subassembly. This procedure may be expeditiously accomplished upon a refrigerator assembly line to which the inner door panel-door gasket subassembly is fed.

The resiliency of clip 28 allows considerable production variations to return flange 20 and rear flange 19 of outer door pan 18. Likewise, the U bend 43 in clip 28 permits considerable production variation in the distance of peripheral edge 29 from head 30 of inner door panel 25.

The inner'lip of door gasket 16 conceals both the clips and the peripheral edge of the inner door panel, thus giving an excellent appearance to the refrigerator door. Likewise, the tensions in clips 28 press the outer lip 36 of gasket 16 against the rear flange 19 of the outer door panel 18 and allows no gaps between the gasket and the outer door panel,

When necessary, the service man may remove the inner door panel-door gasket subassembly from the outer door pan by inserting a thin flat bar between rear flange 19 and outer lip 36 and with the end of the bar pressing against leg 39 of clip 23 until the clip flexes sufliciently to permit the heel 40 of clip 28 to pass inwardly of edge 42 of return flange 20.

It should be apparent from the description heretofore given that I have disclosed a novel refrigerator door structure with a floating inner door panel which may be assembled with the door gasket and securing clips and then expeditiously applied to the outer door pan on an assembly line. To those familiar with the art, it will be apparent that the details of the structure i have disclosed herein may be varied in many ways and that said variations will come within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A refrigerator door comprising a dish shaped outer door pan having a laterally inwardly extending perimetral flange thereon, said flange having a marginal portion extending toward the outer door pan, an inner door panel overlying said flange rearwardly thereof, a trim strip having a laterally inwardly opening groove receiving the marginal edge of said inner door panel, and means for attaching said inner door panel and trim strip to said outer door pan comprising a portion frictionally engaging the marginal edge of the inner door panel within said trim strip, and a resilient leg having a V shaped extremity engaging said marginal portion of said flange by snap engagement therewith intermediate the ends of said leg.

2. A refrigerator door comprising an outer door pan having an inturned flange about its perimeter, an inner door panel overlying the inner edge of said inturned flange, a sealing gasket having an inwardly opening groove receiving the edge of said inner door panel, and means for attaching said inner door panel and gasket to said outer door pan comprising a spring clip having a U-shaped portion receiving an edge of said inner door pan and located Within the groove in said gasket and a resilient arm extending from the inner leg of said clip and resiliently engaging the inner edge of said flange intermediate the extremities of the resilient arm, said resilient arm having teeth thereon for engagement with the inner edge of the flange on the outer door pan.

3. A refrigerator door comprising a dish shaped outer door pan having a laterally inwardly extending perimetral flange, an inner door panel overlying said flange rearwardly thereof, resilient clips each having a groove to snugly receive the edge of said inner door panel, a trim strip surrounding the perimeter of said inner door panel and having a laterally opening groove to receive the margin of said inner door panel; the margin of the inner door panel in the area overlying said flange, a wall of the groove in each of the clips, and a Wall of the groove in the trim strip having matching non-planar portions whereby to form an effective gripping action between them, said clips also having free end portions extending forwardly therefrom and, engaging the free edge of the flange by snap engagement therewith.

4. A refrigerator door of the character described in claim 3 wherein certain of said clips are placed at opposite edges of said inner door panel and the free ends of the oppositely arranged clips are spaced apart a greater distance than the distance between opposite flanges Whereby said clips are stressed when said inner door panel is mounted on said outer door pan.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 306,635 Needham Oct. 14, 1884 1,997,606 Strom Apr. 16, 1935 2,141,700 Tinnerman Dec. 27, 1938 2,296,024 Drake Sept. 15, 1942 2,329,753 Goulooze Sept. 21, 1943 2,329,754 Goulooze Sept. 21, 1943 2,329,755 Goulooze Sept. 21, 1943 2,330,988 Nave Oct. 5, 1943 2,345,665 Goulooze Apr. 4, 1944 2,347,090 Drake Apr. 18, 1944 2,432,563 Drake Dec. 16, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS 622,156 Great Britain Apr. 27, 1949 

